The study examines aspects of health-relevant behaviours as well as some health indicators of shift working police officers of the Police Headquarters Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. 154 male and 27 female police officers were asked to fill in a standardised questionnaire (there was a participation of 61,4 %). Significantly higher values could be diagnosed for male in comparison to female police officers. The differences could be found in the following fields: male police officers consumed more frequently sausages and cold meats/bacon, white bread/bread from rye and wheat flour, they also consumed coffee frequently and more frequently alcohol. There was higher prevalence for male police officers concerning overweight/obesity and more job strains. The comparison of the values of those police officers with a higher status with those who had a lower status detected that e.g. the former consumed significantly more alcohol and the also showed a few significant differences in perceived health complaints, more job strains, and the working atmosphere. A significant correlation between the examined feature could be found in the overall sample: between the frequency of consuming alcohol in general (beer, wine, sparkling wine and spirits) and the BMI, between the frequency/duration of doing sports and the individual perception of one’s own weight as well as of one’s own health condition. The weight (BMI) correlated significantly with the individual perception of one’s own weight, the self-perception of health and the categories of health complaints according to von Zerssen. The five examined categories of job strains have been significantly related to smoking, consuming alcohol, weight, categories of health complaints according to von Zerssen, and the self-perceived health condition. The results of the study have been compared with the data of the National Health Survey 1998 for the corresponding age groups of the male and female general population. As far as the examined health-relevant behaviour and aspects of health are concerned, a few significant unfavourable values have been found for the police officers: irregular meals and partly unfavourable eating habits, furthermore for male police officers a higher number of smokers and a smaller amount of time spent on doing sports in their leisure time. Nevertheless, male police officers in particular consumed alcohol significantly more rarely. There is a considerably great reason and need to reduce the examined risk factors - prevalences. |